Six Fontana Unified high schools have been honored in the 2023-24 Best High Schools rankings by U.S. News & World Report, celebrating the District’s efforts to guide students into lucrative industries and continue their education at institutions such as Harvard, Yale, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia and Johns Hopkins. All five FUSD comprehensive high schools received standout rankings among schools in the region and were ranked in the top 21 percent of public high schools nationwide, an achievement supported by the District’s robust high school programming and college and career readiness program. Eric Birch High School, one of the District’s two continuation schools, was also ranked for the second time in three years.
The Randall Pepper Elementary School robotics program is gearing up for a return trip to Europe after a two-student team of third-graders, Keilani Aquino and Anthony Diaz-Flores, qualified for the World Robot Olympiad (WRO) Friendship Invitational Tournament 2023, to be held Sept. 21-24 in Odense, Denmark. As members of Randall Pepper’s WRO Robotics Club, Aquino and Diaz-Flores honed their craft, learning to build and code robots during a half dozen club meetings held on Saturdays throughout the 2022-23 school year. The pair’s knowledge and teamwork paid off during the WRO U.S. Open held in June, an event featuring more than 100 teams in competition. This is the second time that Randall Pepper robotics students have qualified for the tournament, first traveling to Aarhus, Denmark to participate in the tournament in 2019.
Fontana Unified to Co-Host Regional College and Career Fair
Fontana Unified School District will join forces with Chaffey Joint Union High School District to host the annual Regional College and Career Fair from 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 20 at the Ontario Convention Center. The free event will introduce more than 60,000 students from the two school districts to representatives from dozens of colleges and universities across the country. Students can also explore potential career pathways, trade schools and more. The Ontario Convention Center is located at 2000 E. Convention Center Way, Ontario.
Fontana Unified School District will continue its partnership with Chaffey Joint Union High School District to cohost the annual Regional College and Career Fair and United College Action Network, Inc. (U-CAN) Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) Recruitment Fair, which aim to increase awareness of and access to higher education opportunities. Collectively, the events will feature representatives from more than 80 colleges and universities from across the state and country, including Cal Poly Pomona, Cal State San Bernardino, Morehouse College, Pepperdine, Occidental, Spelman College, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UC Santa Barbara and Xavier University of Louisiana. The Regional College and Career Fair is open to K-12 students and families, and the U-CAN HBCU Recruitment Fair is open to high school juniors and seniors; admission is free for both fairs.
A.B. Miller High School dance students will receive an opportunity to expand their creative horizons while learning to choreograph, perform and film new work uniquely designed for a specific location, thanks to a $50,000 grant from Southern California-based nonprofit homeLA, which will be used to fund a master class held at the Maloof Foundation Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. The project, called inSITE, is available to A.B. Miller Dance Level 1 and Conservatory of Dance Level 2 students and will combine dance and film, as students work with professional film and dance artists to develop choreography that is site-specific to Maloof Gardens, working towards producing a live performance and an accompanying video by the end of the semester. A.B. Miller Conservatory of Dance director Nicole Robinson worked with homeLA to revive a similar project begun in 2020 that was curtailed due to the pandemic. That project also involved students creating dances specific to the Maloof Gardens that were to be viewed by the public. During the 2022-23 school year, the project concentrated on producing a site-specific video.
Southridge Tech Middle School staff and students smiled and hoisted “Thank You” signs on Aug. 11 as Walmart employees delivered a truck filled with donations to the school as part of a series of back-to-school giveaway events unfolding across Fontana Unified School District. More than 3,000 Fontana Unified students have started the 2023-24 school year equipped for success with new backpacks – often stuffed with school supplies – thanks to the generosity of eight community organizations that collected the items through in-house, back-to-school drives and donated the items to the District or its students.
Fontana Adult School (FAS) has received the Promising Practices Award from the California Department of Education (CDE) for its efficiency in conducting exit interviews with graduates and alumni. These interviews, which are required for all adult schools that receive funding from the state, ask the students if they have found work, how much money they are earning, and whether they are pursuing higher education. Fontana Adult School reaches out to students directly to conduct the survey, either through emails, phone calls, or text messages. The personal approach has proven successful, making former students feel comfortable and allowing FAS to gather additional information on how to improve the school, which offers a wide range of both free and fee-based courses across various career pathways.
Fontana Unified Board’s Student Rep Takes Oath of Office
Cheered on by her family and loved ones, Summit High School senior Julieta Gutierrez Martin took the oath of office during the Aug. 9 Board meeting, thereby beginning her term as the District’s Board of Education student representative for the 2023-24 school year. Over the next year, Gutierrez Martin will serve as the voice for all Fontana Unified students and provide their insight and perspective to the Board of Education. She is the first student from Summit High to serve in the role, which is filled after a school-blind application and interview process.
Fontana Unified Dance Program Receives $50,000 Grant
A.B. Miller High School dance students will receive an opportunity to expand their creative horizons while learning to choreograph, perform and film new work uniquely designed for a specific location, thanks to a $50,000 grant from Southern California-based nonprofit homeLA, which will be used to fund a master class held at the Maloof Foundation Gardens in Rancho Cucamonga. The project, called inSITE, is available to A.B. Miller Dance Level 1 and Conservatory of Dance Level 2 students and will combine dance and film, as students work with professional film and dance artists to develop choreography that is site-specific to Maloof Gardens, working towards producing a live performance and an accompanying video by the end of the semester.
Smiling faces, colorful decorations and lively celebrations were plentiful across Fontana Unified School District’s campuses on Aug. 3, as students eagerly returned for the first day of the 2023-24 school year. Students walked across red carpets and under balloon arches, greeted by staff and peer leaders holding welcoming signs, and enjoyed music from a DJ and themed photo opportunities as they entered campuses. The first day of the 2023-24 school year continues a series of transformations in Fontana Unified that include the appointment of 15 dynamic new leaders, and the unveiling of the District’s highly anticipated Innovation Empire, which aims to educate and empower a new generation of STEM learners to push their creative boundaries and channel their entrepreneurial spirit.
